J.W. – I'm very well thank you Paulo and nuff Respect to you and all your listeners in Portugal.
P.M. – Ok let me start with these questions, where were you born and how did you get involved in music ?
J.W.– I was born in England and I got involved in music quite a while ago probably in the late 1970's when i used to listen to music like Bob Marley, and then i discovered other kinds of Roots Reggae and started to listen to Radio Shows, going to Soundsystems and that's really how i got involved in it as a listener as a DJ and producer all over 20 years now, that's how it all happened.
P.M. – Tell us about your musical influences.
J.W.– My musical influences really are the great roots producers of the 1970's you know, people like King Tubby's, Scientist, Augustus Pablo, Lee Perry, Yabby U, those kind of people really influenced me.
P.M. – Why the name Jah Warrior ?
J.W.- Jah Warrior used to be a Soundsystem, was actually a Soundsystemfrom about 1985 up till about 2 years ago. A group of us decided together a name that was powerful, which represented it - Roots Reggae - and the name Jah Warrior came up and then when i started the actual Label of the same name in 1995, I decided to keep the same name for it, because you know,we were already known in London and England because of the Soundsystem, so it seemed a good name for the Label.
P.M. – Why and when did you leave the Soundsystem ?
J.W.– Well one reason I gave up the actual Soundsystem which i sold about two years ago is because i'm getting a bit too old for it, i mean it'svery hard work taking a big Soundsystem out all over the Country. It's very heavy taking all the boxes,etc, you need a lot of people to help you do it, and i have been involved for about 13, 14 years, after a while I said that's enough. When I started the Label I never really intended it to be a big thing, it was really a kind of "hobby" more than anything else.
P.M. – But you’re getting sucess with the Label ?
J.W.– Well, it's kind of relative, Roots music coming from England is more difficult to sell around the world than the music from Jamaica, because certain people you know, don't really accept yet that we can make good Roots music in England.
P.M. – But you’re making it !!!!
J.W.– Yeah, more people recognize this you know, a lot of the artists that I produce are actually from Jamaica, it's not just artists born in England you know, we have Jamaicans born in England, people that i'm working with now, bonafide Jamaicans like Peter Broggs and Prince Alla so you know we can produce very good Reggae music here and i think some people are beginning to understand that.
P.M. – Let's talk about your latest project "Jah Warrior Showcase" before we listen one of the best tracks on the CD from Peter Broggs, tell us how did you meet him?
J.W.– Well i actually met Peter Broggs through Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide that we are members of, Peter Broggs manager Colleen Colman contacted me to tell me that she was coming to London, and Peter Broggs was in London and could we meet? So i suggested maybe we could do some recordings, and it did happen, started out with just a few tracks and we've actually done an entire album with Peter Broggs now and we are looking for a large record Label to release it next year.
P.M. - Will it include the 7" single and the track from the showcase that you have already released ?
J.W.– Well it will include them but with different mixes, different ones from those we have released, and 10 other brand new tracks following the same style.
P.M. – Will it include Dub instrumentals ?
J.W.– No, there's gonna be a Dub album as well, but the main album will be only vocals, i'm not sure yet what will happen, maybe i'll release a separate Dub album myself on Jah warrior's label, but it will definitely be coming next year.
P.M. – What about the legendary Prince Alla ?
J.W.– Yeah, I have done an album with Prince Alla, there's going to be a single called " Jah Mountain" coming in January 2000 and the album is called "Glory" and that's going to be vocals and Dubs, six tracks on the LP and an extra track making seven on the CD, seven vocals, seven Dubs on "Glory" coming out in April next year.
P.M. – In April of this year you've released "Lion Symbol" from Tena Stelin, now on the "Showcase" CD we can listen "Freedom" from him too, tell us who is Tena Stelin, is he Jamaican, British or what ?
J.W.– Tena Stelin is Jamaican but he was born in England and lived here most of his life, like the other artists that i'm working with. Most of the artists in the UK are Jamaican by nationality but actually born here,there is a big Jamaican population in England and Tena Stelin is one of the oldest of what we call the "New Wave of UK Roots Artists", he's been around since about 1989 he has other albums released with other people like Manasseh, like the Conscious Sounds Label and another British producer called Keety Roots. He's very well known in England and he is beginning to be well known in Europe as well.
P.M. – Ok, today you're established as one of the leading producers of Roots & Dub in the UK, would you like in the future to work for example with artists like Luciano, or deejays like Buju Banton or Sizzla?
J.W.– Yeah, I would really like to work with those artists but the problem is Jah Warrior is a small label in the UK, we don't have huge amounts of money to spend and the problem with the kind of artists you just mentioned is even though they do come to England from time to time, they usually want so much money when they come, that it's impossible for us to pay them that kind of money so you find those artists like Luciano and Sizzla working with bigger producers, and the reason for that is just financial,because small producers like me can't afford to pay them that kind of money. Ifthey were prepared to be more reasonable, then we could do some work - simple as that.
P.M. – I think some day you will get it !!!!
P.M. – Ok Jah Warrior, Thanks for this little enjoyable phone interview, my sincere Respect to you.Continue this way.
J.W.– Alright.
By :
Paulo Matos
Reggae Portugal 99
PS: Nuff thanks to Steve Mosco.
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